Cap removed on Margaret River bushfire victims' compensation claims

Courtney Trenwith

All damage claims from last year's Margaret River bushfire will be fully paid after the state government accepted legal advice to remove a cap of $190,000.

The announcement on Thursday coincides with the release of four reports relating to how authorities managed the Margaret River and Nannup bushfires and the state's preparedness for the upcoming bushfire season.

Minister for Emergency Services Troy Buswell said the State Emergency Management Committee report showed this would be a significantly challenging bushfire season but the state was better prepared than previous years.

Up to 160 claims for compensation in relation to the Margaret River bushfire are expected to be assessed, with the total bill in excess of $5 million.

Thirty-two homes, nine chalets and 16 sheds were among property destroyed when a Department of Environment and Conservation prescribed burn got out of control on November 23 last year.

The government immediately accepted responsibility for the disaster and established a $5 million emergency fund but claims were limited to $190,000 each.

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Premier Colin Barnett said of the 160 claims that had been lodged, 117 had been assessed and 88 finalised.

Residents and business owners have argued the limit was unfair; the government had accepted responsibility for causing the fire and it should be wholly responsible to compensate victims.

Mr Barnett said after extensive legal advice and several independent reports the government had agreed to meet all "reasonable" claims for property damage or loss.

"That, I think, will bring a greater sense of comfort to people who have lost their homes or suffered serious damage and allow them to get on with rebuilding their lives and rebuilding their homes," he said.

The general manager of legal firm Slater and Gordon, which is running a class action on behalf of about 60 residents, said legal action would continue if the compensation proved inadequate.

"It's a shame that it takes threatened legal action for a government to step up to its responsibilities to the people whose homes and possessions have been burned as a result of clear government negligence."

The state opposition criticised the 12 months it took for the government to agree to full compensation.

"The government has behaved shamefully in delaying this decision, yet it failed to offer any form of apology to victims," opposition emergency services spokeswoman Margaret Quirk said.

"The delay also meant there will be no time to scrutinise and discuss the post-incident analysis report, made public today, in the Parliament."

Mr Barnett said it was a complex issue and the government had to ensure tax payer's money was being properly spent.

"I know for people who lost their homes and all the trauma that goes with that is incredibly stressful but it's within a year of the fire," Mr Barnett said.

"There has to be reports [and] we have to be responsible as a government because we are talking about tax payer funds."

The Premier conceded the government would have been legally liable if victims had taken court action.

"You could draw that inference," he said.

"But it was clear that government had responsibility in this case and we want people to still get on with rebuilding their homes if they haven't already done so, and to be fair.

"So there's both a legal position as to what might happen in the courts but there's more a government policy decision that on the basis of that advice, on the assessment of the fires and what happened, that is the proper thing to do."

Victims who received a payment under the initial $5 million package will be able to lodge another claim and their first payout will be deducted.

"There will be no double-dipping," Mr Barnett said.

The open-ended compensation will not preclude residents from pursuing legal action against the government.

'Particularly challenging fire season'

Mr Buswell said the State Emergency Management Committee report confirmed this would be a "particularly challenging" bushfire season but the state was more prepared than last year.

The SEMC report is the first of what will be an annual review of the state's preparedness for the upcoming bushfire season, which will be tabled in parliament in November each year.

Mr Buswell said a dry winter, relatively high fuel load, which was particularly old and sitting on the ground, plus the fact DEC had not been able to meet its prescribed burns target, had made conditions worse.

However initiatives implemented this year would allow the state to better respond to bushfires.

They include the appointment of the state's first Fire Commissioner – former head of the Fire and Emergency Services Authority and senior police officer Wayne Gregson – the merger of DEC and FESA, a new emergency services headquarters and the establishment of the Office of Bushfire Risk Management.

"But we can't be under any illusions because the report also says there were some significant challenges, challenges this bushfire season and challenges for the government as we look to the future," Mr Buswell said.

"Even with all the extra money we've put in, all the extra training and focus we've provided it would still be difficult for us to manage more than two large scale fires simultaneously and that our resources would be stretched."

The SEMC report says the government needs to increase fire fighting capacity especially on the rural-urban fringe, address discrepancies in how DEC and volunteer bushfire fighters battles fires and an ageing workforce, and provide for better training exercises.

Mr Buswell said emergency service authorities needed to change their mentality and accept a need for continued improvement.

"A focus on continuous improvement means that we need to get away from the culture in the agencies that says we never make a mistake, there's nothing we need to learn from this fire," he said.

Mr Buswell said the government had accepted all of the 91 recommendations in several reports carried out following the Toodyay, Kelmscott and Margaret River bushfires.

"In the last 12 -18 months there has been some significant – massive – changes in the way that we approach fire, in particular bushfire, in this state," he said.